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Archive for 'Rosa Luxemburg'

95 years ago, on the night of 15 January 1919, Rosa Luxemburg, one of the great leaders in the history of the socialist movement, was murdered. Her legacy lives on. The choice we face today is no less stark than that which Luxemburg saw confronting humanity at the height of World War I. The continuation of a system of capitalism built on violence, injustice and poverty for the vast majority of people. Or the struggle for socialism – a society and economy democratically and collectively controlled by workers, in which the vast capacities and resources of humanity are no longer sacrificed on the alter of the market, but can be turned to providing the things we need to live a decent life.

It is widely claimed that the 1918 November Revolution in Germany failed. But it succeeded in ending the First World War – the biggest and bloodiest war in human history up to that time. Internationalism and class struggle are vital weapons for fighting imperialism. The lessons of the uprising in 1918 against the bloody war machinery remain valid for today.

The choice we face today is no less stark than that which Luxemburg saw confronting humanity at the height of World War I. The continuation of a system of capitalism built on violence, injustice and poverty for the vast majority of people. Or the struggle for socialism – a society and economy democratically and collectively controlled by workers, in which the vast capacities and resources of humanity are no longer sacrificed on the alter of the market, but can be turned to providing the things we need to live a decent life.

One of the hallmarks of the serious left is uncertainty, enquiry and analysis informing action, captured by Rosa Luxemburg’s famous dictum – Doubt all. We socialists are not and cannot be fundamentalists. We are scientific socialists and Marxism is the science of proletarian revolution, not the unthinking repetition of sacred texts.